Trios Armory
Ground Forces The basic soldiers fielded by Trios Solutions are little more than cannon fodder, produced cheaply and not expected to live through a single battle. However, Trios makes lots of them. Crushing enemies through sheer numbers is one of Trios Solutions' favorite tactics. This makes for an effective psychological weapon, both by dispiriting their foes with their numbers, and by showing off that Trios is so powerful it doesn't care about wasting such vast amounts of resources. But Trios Solutions is not restricted simply to disposable drones. Mixed into the hordes of cannon fodder are more dangerous machines. If the drones are a sea of destruction, these armored fighting machines are the hammer that breaches the walls and allows the sea to pour through. Many of their machines are also capable of limited flight, enabling them to vault over high obstacles or descend from great heights. The most common soldiers of Trios Enterprises are as listed: Brainbot Trios robots are programmed with sophisticated decision-making and pattern-matching capabilities, but they are only semiautonomous at best. To make them truly lethal, they require a guiding intelligence--something capable of reacting to events as they happen and strategizing in terms both broad and focused. This is where the Brainbots step in. Field commanders of the robot horde, Brainbots are, as detailed on the previous page, highly augmented organic brains placed in robotic bodies, making them at once superior to regular humans both physically and mentally. Using small-scale ansible technology, they psychically direct the armies of Trios Solutions, meaning that a well-managed army can respond to changing battlefield conditions at literally the speed of thought. The Brainbots themselves, meanwhile, start out stronger, faster, and more durable than unaugmented individuals, and only get deadlier the further they progress up the chain of command. Brainbots are present in every aspect of military command, from leading troops from the front to strategizing the course of whole wars on a galactic scale. While the lowest ranking brainbots use the default chassis, with only a personalized faceplate to show identity, higher ranks are allowed progressively more freedom with their self-modifications, and Trios generals can have body plans as far removed from humanity as any arthropod. Drone The bread and butter of Trios's robot armies. Drones are expendable and mass-produced, intended to swamp enemies through force of numbers. They make up the vast bulk of Trios Solution's land forces. Drones are also among the most versatile of Trios's fighting machines. Over 27 different patterns of drone exist, each one specialized for combat in specific battlefields, from underwater to underground, and even in space. They're still cannon fodder though. Gnat Small, flying scouting robots. The Gnat is not meant for direct combat, but for reconnaissance and tracking enemy movements. Their advanced optical sensors can see in a wide range of spectrums, peeling through all but a few stealth technologies. Their carbines have very little penetrating power, but are still capable of harassing enemy infantry and keeping them pinned. Knight Shock troops that specialize in close-quarter combat. Named for their resemblance to medieval knights, the Knight is clad in layers of composite armor that renders it highly resistant to small arms fire. Their swords may seem an anachronism, but their focused plasma blades can shear through steel with ease. Their already fearsome speed is augmented by jump packs that allow them to descend upon unsuspecting foes and cut them to ribbons. However, for boarding actions or particularly tight spaces, knights can also be loaded out with fearsome combat shotguns and heavy-duty polymer shields to augment their already impressive armor. This, however, greatly reduces their speed. They have weak spots in their joints and in their visors. Strike Drone One of the most commonly seen Drone variations, Strike Drones are the vanguard of any attack force. Hardier and faster than regular Drones, Strike Drones are built for rapid assaults, working alongside Knights and Elite Drones in brutally precise strikes against enemy hardpoints and leave them vulnerable for the full attack. Their semiautomatic rifles are a higher caliber than typical Drone submachine guns. Though they're all still expected to die, Strike Drones are the armor-penetrating spear compared to the Drones' sledgehammer. Elite Drone Huge, heavily armored and heavily armed, these heavy weapons specialists are designed to hit targets with the force of a sledgehammer. Their prodigious strength allows them to lift enormous guns without hindrance and they can shatter reinforced concrete with their massive fists. Each one also possesses an organic, semi-sentient 'protobrain' that allows them to coordinate the attacks of the robots around them. Their one drawback is their lack of speed, but their thick armor plates and redundant systems makes taking them down without anti-arm or weapons a difficult prospect. They can wield either a hefty Plasma Cannon or a slightly less hefty Heavy Machine Gun. Elite Knight Sacrificing the Knight's characteristic mobility for even greater protection, Elite Knights are a truly knightmarish enemy in close quarters. Striding through gunfire, completely unfazed by all but the heaviest of weaponry, Elite Knights swing their gravity hammers into the enemy, using the same antigravity technology used to propel Trios spacecraft to pulp defenselss infantry and hurl them through the air in bloody arcs. Like Elite Drones, Elite Knights also make use of protobrain technology to direct lesser Knights. Crab While Elites can carry prodigious amounts of firepower, their weapons are still infantry-grade. When dealing with heavier targets, Crabs are brought to bear. Bulky quadrupeds with high-set bodies, Crabs are classified as 'siege guns', and can lay down some serious devastation. But despite their formidable firepower, they are also remarkably slow-moving. For this reason, they also see widespread use as mobile base defenses, where their speed is not as much of an issue. They can carry a variety of weapons: HE cannons, chainguns, or Plasma Destroyer cannons. Cyclops A biped weapons platform named for the single cluster of photoreceptors at its front. The cyclops combines lethal firepower with high speed and an unmatched maneuverability that stems from their powerful legs. Though the basic design remains the same in all aspects, cyclopes can have their weapons switched out for some more suited for local battlefield conditions, allowing them to be deployed for nearly every situation. Their arsenal includes chainguns, Plasma Mauler cannons, siege drills, and HE cannons. Titan Walking engines of destruction. As Elite Drones are to regular drones, so Titans are to regular Cyclopes. Lumbering four-legged behemoths, Titans are the spearhead of any major assault, laying waste to the battlefield with a truly impressive arsenal of heavy weaponry. Few fortifications can weather the amount of firepower a Titan formation can bring to bear. Mobile Oppression Fortress An exercise in audacity. The Mobile Fortress stands high on six massive legs, supporting a body the size of a barn. Dominating the body is the gigantic Plasma Devastator cannon, the largest plasma weapon in Trios Solutions' arsenal that isn't meant to be used against spacecraft. As it is an attractive target for airstrikes, the Mobile Fortress mounts three surface-to-air missile racks capable of intercepting both ordnance and aircraft. To deal with ground forces are a variety of autocannons, smaller plasma weapons, and chainguns, many of which can also be turned skywards. Fortresses are often accompanied by an armored battlegroup to further ward off assaults. Too large for conventional means of delivery, Mobile Fortresses are usually dropped straight out of orbit, retrorockets firing to slow its descent to survivable levels. It lands in the middle of an enemy force, crushing anything beneath it as its guns wreak destruction upon the disorganized survivors. But while certainly intimidating sights on the battlefield, the Mobile Fortress is often used as mobile heavy artillery rather than for frontline combat. The Plasma Devastator can reduce entire bases to molten slag in a single shot. Mobile Fortresses are so large that they require a small crew of IGORS for maintenance and repair. In addition, the Mobile Fortress can be piloted by a hardwired Brainbot. Deployment Armies are virtually useless without transportation. Fortunately, when Trios Solutions needs boots on the ground somewhere, it doesn't lack for options. Drop Pod Drop pods are classified as orbit- or atmosphere-to-ground missiles by Trios Solutions, which is a reasonable description of what they do. Cylindrical, relatively small vehicles, drop pods are most often fired from spacecraft to deploy strike teams with pinpoint precision-- strike drones, knights, and other fast-moving shock troopers to take out vital enemy positions. Each one can carry up to four robots at once. Dropship Trios Solutions is infamous for its use of dropships. Little more than large boxes with thrusters attached to them, dropships are cargo haulers repurposed to rapidly deploy Trios's robot armies wherever they might be needed. Dropships are considered nearly as expendable as drones, and are frequently sent to warzones straight out of the factories with equally factory-fresh robots packed into their bellies. Trios Solutions can and will deploy thousands of these at once in a single attack to overwhelm anti-air defenses, and even if one gets shot down there's a good chance at least a handful of the robots within will survive to carry on the attack regardless. ''Aethina''-class Invasion Ship Essential tools for Trios Solutions' subjugation of planetary populations, invasion ships are weapons of terror first and foremost. These ships are space-capable, but spend most of their time in the lower atmosphere, serving as mobile command centers, factories, firebases, and troop carriers. The Aethina ''does not have the armor for space combat but has more than enough armor to resist most conventional anti-air weaponry. Drifting implacably over the landscape, unharmed by even the heaviest ordinance its enemies can bring to bear, the ''Aethina lays down a withering hail of plasma fire, leveling population centers with starship-grade firepower in a campaign of terror to demoralize and dishearten Trios's enemies. Invasion ships also carry large numbers of drop pods and dropships within them, providing point deployment of troops at particularly resistant centers of opposition, and, provided with sufficient resources, can manufacture more. Space Forces Trios Solutions' space tactics are much the same as its ground tactics: huge swarms of disposable machines with bulky heavy-hitters as support. All but the largest have no crews besides a force of IGORs for maintenance. A list of Trios Solutions' most common fleet assets follows: ''Formic''-class Fighter The Drones of space. Small, weak but maneuverable, fighters have no armaments beside their light plasma repeaters. They are deployed in massive hordes without any form of squadron organization, attacking in relentless, suicidal waves. ''Isoptera''-class Bomber Slightly more intelligent Drones of space. While carrying more armor than fighters, bombers are still meant to be expendable. Their armaments are designed for anti-capital ship action, featuring banks of missiles and plasma torpedoes. Like fighters, they are not deployed in squads, but as a single large horde. In a way, this makes them more dangerous: a normal squadron of bombers can be taken out with one fell swoop, but the dispersed and scattered flights of Isoptera bombers are more difficult to neutralize. ''Anthophil''-class Corvette Too lightly armed to be considered a true ship of the line, the Anthophil is mostly meant to be a workhorse utility craft. Its powerful engines can tow asteroids and other ships, while also making it fast enough to be used for scouting and reconnaissance. Still, its two repeaters make it a danger in groups. ''Myxophaga''-class Frigate Typically used as escorts and support. The Myxophaga is not meant to take on other ships directly, but to take attention off of the main aggressors by needling enemies with repeater fire from multiple directions. A small squadron of frigates and corvettes is usually enough to guard small installations and outposts. They can carry a small batch of fighters and dropships. ''Adephaga''-class Cruiser Tough, armed to the teeth, and equipped with a prow-mounted plasma cannon, the Adephaga ''is the mainstay of the Trios fleet. These cruisers can be captained by a brainbot officer, but this only happens in smaller fleets where a ''Polyphaga is unfeasible. ''Polyphaga''-class Battleship Flagships of the Trios fleet. With heavy armor and even heavier firepower, the Polyphaga is a tough nut to crack. The top choice for Trios naval officers, for obvious reasons. From here, the commanding Brainbot can direct the movements of the rest of the fleet and house the rest of their command group in relative safety. They carry installation-grade ansibles in order to direct their fleets with greater precision. Their two plasma cannons pack a mighty punch. ''Hive''-class Carrier Rivalling the Polyphaga battleships in size, Hive ''carriers serve a triple role in the Trios fleet. First, they are responsible for ferrying resources among all the worlds of the megacorporation, keeping all of its colonies well-supplied. Second, their cargo bays can double as fighter bays, serving as huge hives housing swarms of fighters and bombers. Indeed, the ''Hive is equipped with all the facilities necessary to manufacture new fighters to replace those lost in the heat of battle. And third, Hive carriers are the means by which Trios Enterprises carries out invasions of other worlds, housing tens of thousands of combat robots in their bays along with all the drop pods and dropships necessary to convey them to planetary surfaces. Custom-class Particularly notable Brainbots are granted the privilege of getting to design a totally unique ship. Custom-class ships come in a staggering variety of shapes and sizes; a Trios ace might have a custom fighter built, while Demirel is known for his gigantic flagship, the'' Indomitable''. Such ship designs are carefully evaluated by IGOR teams to ensure maximum protection and firepower. ''Invasion''-class Installation To see an Invasion-class installation accompanying a battlefleet into combat means that Trios Solutions is truly committed to waging war. These colossal space stations are whole weapons unto themselves. But it isn't just the guns and torpedo bays dotting their surfaces that make them so formidable. It's the fact that each individual Invasion ''carries enough war machines to conquer a whole planet--along with the fact that they can build even more, on the spot, given the resources. As long as they're supplied with raw materials, ''Invasion ''installations will provide Trios Solutions with an endless number of robotic soldiers to send to the front lines. ''Devourer-class Installation The height of Trios overengineering. Gargantuan mobile refineries, Devourer space stations are most commonly seen in asteroid belts, where Anthophil corvettes tow entire mineral-rich asteroids into the installation's huge maw, where they will be ground down and processed into raw materials, with the leftover waste simply ejected back into space. They have very fitting names. Space Arsenal Unlike their ground forces, where projectile weapons still dominate the field, Trios Solutions arms its spacecraft with a wide variety of energy weapons. Repeater batteries Plasma repeaters are yet another example of Trios's "quantity is quality" mindset. The lowest yield weapons mounted on capital ships, repeaters make up for their relative weakness by having fast recharge rates and being installed in batteries of three independently targeting turrets at once. They put out a (literally) blistering amount of firepower. Repeaters lack in power and accuracy and often do only incremental damage, but uninterrupted fire allows that damage to build up to compromising levels. They also serve as adequate interception weapons. Plasma Lance The polar opposite of repeaters, plasma lances combine both high accuracy and penetrating power. By accelerating the plasma within the magnetic guidance sheath to extremely high velocities, the lance becomes a highly effective armor-piercing weapon. However, the processes behind plasma acceleration drain a great deal of power and generate extreme levels of heat. Coolant must be flushed into the magnetic coils and plasma generators to keep them from melting, increasing the amount of time it takes to recharge the weapon. Plasma Torpedo When a Trios captain finds repeaters too weak and lances too neat, they call upon the torpedos. Plasma torpedoes are self-contained remotely-guided spheres of tightly compressed plasma encased in a magnetic bubble. When they strike a solid surface, or are commanded to do so by their targeters, the bubble pops and all that plasma erupts with tremendous explosive force. Though they lack the penetrating power of lances, torpedos are better at indiscriminate destruction. However, the torpedo travels slowly compared to the other weapons in the Trios arsenal. It's entirely possible to intercept the torpedo before it strikes, causing it to explode harmlessly far from its target. Plasma Cannon The most powerful weapons in the Trios fleet. Mounted on the prows of Adephaga and Polyphaga starships, these tremendous guns fire huge blobs of magnetically accelerated plasma capable of crippling even the most formidable ships in a single hit. Their killing power and long range is evened out by the time it takes to recharge them. Soren Soren Lambros isn't called Trios Enterprises' most high profile traitor for nothing. His bioengineering was peerless, constructing all manner of new weapons for his employers, from lethal viruses deployed via warhead to monstrous new organic soldiers. His legion of monsters are as varied as life itself, but all shared certain unifying characteristics: all are the same shade of red, all are tremendously resilient, and all are loyal to Soren and Soren alone. Myrmidon Soren's footsoldiers. Myrmidons form the bulk of Soren's organic forces. They are perfect warriors, the culmination of countless years of effort. Myrmidons stand much taller than the average human, and are also incredibly strong and fast--almost matching Brainbots in physical ability. In addition, they are fearsomely resilient, refusing to die even in the face of injuries that would kill an unmodified human: disembowelment, dismemberment, they'll keep fighting regardless. They frequently carry powerful machine guns, though some prefer heatblades, to better make use of their speed and strength. Bloodhound Spindly, lithe creatures, Bloodhounds function in much the same way as regular attack dogs. They're blind, with the amount of brain normally reserved for sight instead turned towards scent. Bloodhounds are peerless trackers and voracious eaters, and are frequently used to detect and soften up enemy soldiers before the Myrmidons move in, tearing bodies apart with claws and horns and teeth and feeding on the remains. Minotaur A derivative of the Myrmidon recognizable by their distinctive horns, Minotaurs serve as field commanders, directing Soren's armies from the front lines. They're built slower but stronger than Myrmidons, but are also more intelligent. They usually carry both a heatblade and one of Soren's 'special' weapons: a rifle that delivers a payload of flesh- and metal-eating pathogens with every shot. Kampos Soren's equivalent of heavy weaponry, the Kampos superficially resembles a lobster, with a long, squat body and huge claws, but the resemblance ends there. Kampos are engineered with a series of spikes sprouting from their backs that generate lethal electric charges, which are released in devastating arcs of lightning. Tunneler An experimental strain only recently put into production, Tunnelers are enormous and savage beasts, so aggressive they're almost uncontrollable. Their huge claws and muscles are designed to pull them through even the hardest of earth, traveling rapidly through the ground to emerge explosively behind enemy lines, where they then commence an orgy of blood and violence before being brought down.